This one is rather unique (if we can
believe the article)
MI:
Hackers hit Troy schools
October 9, 2011 by admin
Mike Martindale reports:
Police and Troy
school officials are investigating a widespread hacking of the school
district’s computer system.
In a letter to
parents obtained by The Detroit News, schools Superintendent Barbara
Fowler said she told students and staff with accounts on the system
to change their passwords so whoever’s responsible can’t access
personal information.
The hacking has
been stopped, police said, but there are concerns data gleaned by
hackers could lead to identity theft and fraud.
“No one is in
custody yet, but when it all comes out, I expect it to be
significant,” police Officer Andy Breidenich said Friday.
Read more on The
Detroit News.
[From the article:
According to Fowler's letter to
parents, dated Sept. 30, the hacking involved the
decryption of passwords and user names in a district database.
[Decrypting on the school's computer system? (How else would they
know?) I've never seen that before. Bob]
In the letter, Fowler wrote that police
had asked the school district to delay notifying parents to avoid
compromising the investigation. [Why? The only
reason I can see is to keep the hacker accessing the system in hopes
of tracing him. (And in this case, the cops had NOT asked them to
hold off...) Bob]
Managers assume
that anyone with a smattering of technical skill knows everything
they need to know to get a job done correctly.
"The UK Ministry of Defence has
been left with egg on its face, after a supposedly redacted PDF
detailing secrets related to air defence radar systems was published
on a parliamentary website. The problem? Whoever did the redacting
simply
changed the sensitive text to black on a black background, making
it possible for anyone to access the information simply by
cutting-and-pasting. The incident is particularly embarrassing for
the Ministry, as six months ago precisely the
same security screw-up occurred — that time
related to sensitive information about nuclear submarines."
For my Ethical Hackers: Tools like
this are readily available and free. What free tools
detect/block/remove these tools.
German
’Trojan’ Spyware May Violate Constitution
October 10, 2011 by Dissent
Cornelius Rahn and Brian Parkin report:
The German
government is using spying software that violates the country’s
constitutional law because it contains functions beyond the
interception of Internet-based communication, a hacker organization
said.
The malware, once
installed on a target computer, can receive software and remotely
execute it, the Chaos Computer Club said.
It can also be used to control hardware such as microphones and
cameras for room surveillance as well as upload falsified evidence to
the target hard drive, said Hamburg-based CCC, which called
itselfEurope’s
largest hacker group.
Read more on Bloomberg.
Sooner or later, one of the people who
communicate with one of the people who communicated with Appelbaum
will communicate with Kevin Bacon.
Justice
Department ramps up WikiLeaks e-mail probe
The U.S. Department of Justice has
expanded its investigation of WikiLeaks-related accounts to encompass
Google and Internet provider Sonic.net.
Both companies received [Not
so secret Bob] secret court orders directing them to turn
over information from the e-mail account of Jacob Appelbaum, a hacker
and human rights activist who has been affiliated with WikiLeaks, the
Wall Street Journal reported
this evening.
… Appelbaum has not been charged
with a crime.
… Ever since appearing
at The Next HOPE hacker conference in July 2010 on behalf of
WikiLeaks' Assange, who's currently out
on bail in England while fighting extradition charges, Appelbaum
has been the subject of strict police scrutiny. The Tor Project
programmer has been repeatedly targeted
when he crosses the border, with his electronics seized, and he
no longer travels with any sensitive data. Even his friends have had
their laptops and cell phones temporarily
seized.
… In this case, it appears that the
Justice Department is not asking for the contents of Appelbaum's
communications--instead, they want to know the
identities of his correspondents, which can be even more
useful.
What (beside 'remedial grammar school')
do they teach these “educators?” Perhaps they need to add
Forrest Gump to the school board, because he knows that “Stupid is
as stupid does.”
"Anaheim Union High School
District has killed
a controversial incentive program that assigned students color-coded
ID cards and planners based on state test scores, required those
who performed poorly to stand in a separate lunch line and awarded
the others with discounts. The program was designed to urge students
to raise scores on the California Standards Tests, but it also raised
concern among parents and students who said it illegally revealed
test scores and embarrassed those who didn't do well."
[From the article:
The program, in place
at Cypress and Kennedy high schools, [Attention Class Action lawyers!
Bob] was designed to urge students to raise scores on the
California Standards Tests, but it also raised concern among parents
and students who said it illegally revealed test scores and
embarrassed those who didn't do well.
… "Because we believe having
incentives can appropriately motivate students, we will develop
another system for them to access the incentives. This is similar to
acknowledging students for their participation in athletics,
performing arts, extra-curricular activities, and community
involvement," the statement reads. [Actually,
it is similar to announcing that you failed your teacher
certification test, again. Bob]
…
The
California Department of Education characterized the practice as
"inappropriate" and a violation of student privacy laws,
and urged school administrators to curtail the practice.
The
California Department of Education characterized the practice as
"inappropriate" and a violation of student privacy laws,
and urged school administrators to curtail the practice.
A UC Irvine educational psychologist,
AnneMarie Conley, who has extensively studied student motivation
strategies in Orange County schools, called the system "one of
the worst ideas ever" to promote learning.
Cypress High Principal Ben Carpenter
said Wednesday that he believed the program did not violate student
privacy laws because administrators intentionally designed it to
obscure students' exam performance.
Someday, CEO's will ask their customers
BEFORE they make a huge change to their services...
Netflix
cancels Qwikster spinoff
… Critics said Netflix was doing
the unthinkable: making a successful, simple service more
complicated. Michael Pachter, an analyst who has covered Netflix for
years, called the move the "dumbest" he's seen any company
make in a long time.
Perhaps we should add Facebook
etiquette to our student Career Services?
7
Reasons Why Recruiters Like Facebook More Than LinkedIn
… While employers continue to use
professional networking site LinkedIn for recruiting, especially when
hand-picking for executive positions, they prefer interacting with
students and graduates via Facebook rather than LinkedIn, according
to a study by online recruiting research lab Potentialpark.
… Potentialpark interviewed HR
professionals about their motivation to be active on Facebook and
found that they had multiple reasons for involvement. Here’s an
overview of reasons why recruiters cited a preference for Facebook
when dealing with young talent:
- 1. It’s more engaging. With Facebook, employers can follow a “let them come to us” strategy by setting up a business page for recruitment and career purposes. Recruiters noted that the interesting content on pages leads to comments, discussions and more personal interactions. With LinkedIn, the communication is very much one-way in the recruiting world, as employers proactively search for candidates and message them.
- 2. Facebook is where the action is. Recruiters perceive that few students and recent graduates actively update their LinkedIn profiles, whereas they are quite active on Facebook. Therefore, it just makes sense to connect with them where they already hang out online.
- 3. It’s free. Employers like that Facebook enables them to upload advanced recruitment content, such as testimonials, videos, pictures or a job search — and it’s all free of charge. This broad range of tools enables a company to showcase itself as an attractive employer.
- 4. It’s a bigger network. Facebook offers a larger audience, with more than 800 million active users worldwide, compared with LinkedIn’s user base of around 120 million members.
- 5. It’s more open. Facebook is free for all members and requires no premium accounts to use certain features. As a result, it’s a more open network than LinkedIn.
- 6. The Like button. When it comes to career website integration, Facebook takes the cake — Facebook feeds and the Like button are easier to integrate.
- 7. It’s better for branding. Recruiters report they tend toward LinkedIn and other business networks for networking, screening and recruiting. However, when it comes to employer branding activities and talent communication — especially with students, graduates and early career professionals — many prefer Facebook.
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